6-21-19 Memphis, TN

“Oh the river is deep and the river is wide, alleluia!”  It is wider by far than I have ever seen the Mighty Mississippi and moving along rapidly with white caps in places.  There is a bridge that crosses over the river from the Arkansas side to Memphis which usually can be seen from our fave rv park.  We did not see Tom Sawyer’s so we suppose, as the park attendant told us, that it is woefully underwater.  The locals do not seem ruffled by any of this, traffic and commerce are in a business-as-usual mode, the river overflowing its banks or not. 

The Memphis Street Trolley

Conductor Terry and Lindy

Lindy and the band at BB King's

A trolley runs about in Memphis so we took a quick ride on it and got a lot of pointers from the conductor on good eats in Memphis.  A wonderful blues band was wailing at BB King’s Club, a perfect venue for a lunch of gumbo and catfish nuggets.  Stopping in occasionally at the shops and clubs was a relief from the muggy, heavy humidity.  It is so muggy that the air is actually hazy.  This will be the norm for quite a while on this trip.  So to assist in our adjustment  effort, Rob suggested a Big Ass Beer at an umbrella table on the sidewalk where we could watch all the activity and hear the live music.  Who am I to say, “No?”  Others joined in on the fun at the next table and we got into a lively discussion because of our clothes!  I was wearing a Green Bay Packers shirt and my Trump 2020 hat while Rob had on a University of WA cap.  The lady, originally from Prairie du Chien, WI, took our picture for her husband.  The poor bastard was still at work.

Rob at the Peabody Hotel fountain with the ducks

The Peabody Ducks Palace

The fountain in the ducks' condo

It was worth it to visit the Peabody again to watch the March of the Ducks, truly a one-of-a-kind event.  The elevator takes people to the top floor of the hotel to see the ducks’ “palace.”  They are on Easy Street there, with a fountain, a house and a pool, quite luxurious for 5 ducks! 

Rob on top of the Peabody Hotel in
front of the Duck Palace

We decided to have dinner at the Flying Catfish nearby and were walking there when a woman encountered us and exclaimed, “Oh My God!  You’re those people!”  We had no idea who she was or what in the world she was talking about.  She pulled out her phone saying, “Wait, wait, wait!”  She pulled up something called “Snapchat,” and there was the picture of us that the lady from Prairie du Chien had taken earlier today.  It was titled, “The perfect couple.”  (I do not know “Snapchat” from a bucket of paint.)  We laughed.  We’re famous!  (Send money.)

Maybe it’s good karma or something, but the red cell storms seem to be passing us by the skin of our teeth.  We got a serious splash last night and lost power for a little while but then, it cleared up and calmed down.  Phew!  No hail, which is a blessing because we have no way to go up on the roof to fix a broken skylight.  This rig was not built with a ladder (too many lawyers).  This morning, we head south along the “Natchez Trace.”  “Trace” is a word that is used, sometimes, in place of the word, “trail,” and the Natchez Trace is one of the more commonly-known uses of the word.  It means a more rugged path, if you will.  If you lay out a trace and a lot of people use it, it becomes a trail.  The Natchez Trace runs 440 miles from Nashville, TN to Natchez, MS and was originally used as a trail for travelers and traders.  When transportation on the Mississippi River became common the trace fell out of use but today it is an historic landmark.  (Like Route 66, yes?)  We have arrived and we rest tonight in Toomsuba, MS.